100 Greatest Singers: SAMUEL RAMEY

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your point of view about Ramey? Please comment!

Samuel Ramey, Bass (basso cantante) (born 1942)

Gioacchino Rossini - L´Italiana in Algeri
Gia d´insolito ardore nel petto
(Recorded around 1980)

My personal opinion: Sometimes it takes time to find out, how great a singer is. Most careers came late, perhaps too late. In case of Samuel Ramey it was clear from the very first moment, he was something very special, a basso cantante who seemed to come from another age of singing. He made his first steps with the New York City Opera House and his idol there was Norman Treigle (we can hear in the "Tales of Hoffmann"-recording with Sills).
Rameys repertoire spannend an immensive wideness, from belcanto Rossini to Mozart (Don Giovanni, Figaro) to Berlioz and Gounod (Mephistophélès in both), even to Stravinsky.
I would like to present you the fine but very difficult Mustafa-aria from Rossinis L´Italiana. It´s one of Ramey greatest showpieces. Please notice how lissome he slides through the coloratura lines.
He was one of the very few basses with a sense for demonic and erotic undertones.

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[61550LizziE]

He's a God among men.

[rojp08]

He is to my ears, the best bass of his generation by far. He is untouchable as Mefisto, and any Rossini role, in particular Mustafa. He is also very good with Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. A great Scarpia, too.

[suzannesadiiqa]

Ramy and Upshaw, that's perfection!

[raigekimaru]

@Taenyr

of course this characterization doesn't apply to all singers, maybe 1 in 50. I'm describing a powerful, dramatic voice that is also extremely flexible and capable of beautiful, florid singing. it's a VERY rare combination =D

PS: Hvorostovsky is not a Verdi baritone. he is a good lyric/dramatic baritone (like Robert Merrill) but he is not a Verdi baritone, a Verdi baritone is higher and needs easy notes about a G. Sherril Milnes and Leonard Warren are good examples of Verdi baritones.

[Taenyr]

@raigekimaru I can't agree with you that that characterization applies to all singers - listen to Hvorostovsky, an excellent Verdi baritone (and thus possessed of a weighty timbre) butcher Largo al Factotum. On the other hand, the way you describe Ramey is beautiful. =D

[raigekimaru]

@Taenyr

if you listen to a dramatic coloratura soprano, they can do lyric, they can do dramatic, they can do coloratura and anything in the middle. that's the kind of voice samuel ramey is, but as a bass. he is joan sutherland's long lost bass cousin =D

[Taenyr]

@raigekimaru You think so? His voice sounds rather lyric to me.

[jasonc992]

greatist since pinza.Ramey is the best don giovanni i have ever seen and he is a rossini and handel and mozart specialist

[clown84700]

j'adore samuel ramey!!!

[isabella1954able]

Basso profondo,basso buffo ,basso cantabile,N O N M E N E PUO' IMPORTAR DI MENO,la mia opinione: G R A N D I S S I M O !

[ah332]

this is bordering on the insane and ridiculous

[Cesconegre]

Gustosissime variazioni